Trick or Treat

 

 Trick or treat ? Why? 

According to the book Ceremonies of The Seasons.........................

The origin of trick-or-treat is thought to be related to the Christian practice of Soul-Caking which was held on All Soul's Day on November 2nd. It's written about in the C17 but thought to be much older. Soul caking involved children going around the village asking for cakes in return for praying for the souls of departed loved ones. Soul-Caking often took place after the All Souls Day carnival or parade so the participants would be wearing costumes.

The only time we lived in a place suitable for Trick or Treating - the tradition hadn't yet traveled back here from the USA and since then I've lived in out of the way houses and had no small callers in fancy dress. This year I guess even fewer children will be out.

Many cultures around the world have festivals or traditions celebrated with The Eve of All Saints Day or Halloween  or the Night of the Dead, including Dias de Los Muertos in Mexico and Cheung Yeung in China

 

                                                       On Hallowe'en the old ghosts come 

                                                          About us- and they speak to some

(Anon)

The history of  Halloween goes right back to rituals performed for Samhain, the Celtic festival celebrated in Ireland and Scotland. Samhain was one of the four Celtic festivals known as quarter days. The meaning of the word in old Irish is 'summers end'. The end of the light half of the year. Celts considered sundown as the start of a day, which is why although Samhain is November 1st, it would have been celebrated at sundown on the 31st. It was their new year and fires would have been lit on the hilltops to drive out the evil of  the last year and welcome in the new. Then later came the Christian feasts of All Saints on the 1st and All Souls on November 2nd, when the dead are remembered in prayers.

In the past it was a night for staying by the fire, out of harms way, and telling fortunes............sounds OK to me. Perhaps at midnight I will peel an apple all in one piece, throw the peel over my shoulder and see what letter it makes - that will be the initial of my next lover.......!!!  

 

Have a lovely weekend. I'm back Monday IF I have anything to write about - at the moment my mind is blank.

 

Sue

The Financial and Frugal Bits of October

The Income was the usual County Council spouses pension and interest on savings that are in a fixed rate bond plus £11 from Ziffit for books.

 

Highlight of the month on the financial front was changing an account where I had a little savings and the interest rate had dropped after a year to 0.02% Now it's earning 0.2% Gee Whizz!

 

 

 

 First let me get the spendy bit out of the way!.............  I love my  pair of Hotter Whisper boots  so much that  I decided it would be a good plan  to get another pair before they stop doing that style. Also ordered two new cardigans to pick up. I've got a few jumpers but needed something to replace old two baggy cardis to wear at home and haven't been able to find any in charity shops. Jumpers seem too hot sometimes. My two really thick roll neck jumpers haven't been worn at all in the last four winters - proving climate change! but I'm loathe to pass them onto a charity shop as that will be the year we get a really freezing winter.

 Normal outgoings............. Direct debits for Council tax, phones, charity and car breakdown insurance.Food spending up a lot for some reason. Diesel spending up on September with more journeys to swimming etc but still down on October of last year as prices per litre are still lower.The bill came for the boiler repair and service.......Not cheap, and there were family  birthday gifts and  bits I've bought for the Christmas hampers and Christmas bits from my outing plus all the usual things needed for running a house and then the window cleaner turned up. Three outings involving coffees and cakes  (a lovely return to a sort of normal) and a Chinese takeaway.

 

Frugal Things

•  Made a pair of leggings last a bit longer by turning over the top and stitching down then threading some new elastic through to make a new waistband.
• Used old carrots, a big red pepper from the greenhouse and one onion to make 4 portions of soup
• Always catching the cold water in a jug at the kitchen sink while waiting for the hot 
• Home made bread 
• The £1 bag with local paper, crisps and popcorn
• Reading library books for free
• Own fruit until the last week of the month
• Boiler not on much as it's been relatively mild and I've lit the wood-burner in the afternoons/evenings
• Couple of cabbages and the last peppers from garden/greenhouse
  

 Still Clearing out

2 Bags of books to charity shop

Bag of bits of various crockery ditto

Boot full of junk from the garage/workshop to recycling centre

Oddments of a wooden toy that didn't work - used as kindling

Oddments of plastic toy that didn't work - into bin

When I got the new casserole/frypan from car boot I was able to move out the stainless steel frypan that was too annoying to use very often as everything stuck

 

 

Now onto November which is always No Spend November (except for Christmas gifts, food,diesel and the direct debits). And the No Spend bit usually lasts about a week before something comes up that has to be paid for. It will be the blasted ride-on mower again which has gone wrong for the 3rd time this year - with the same problem that it had in March. Hate that mower but can't be without it.......unless I move..................

And apologies for not answering comments yesterday - bit of grandchildren minding took up several hours.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

A Collection? What Collection?

 Who said anything about a collection?

 

It started with this from Stonham Barns boot sale in  September 2017 - the best bargain of the lot

Then this from  the Hospice  charity shop in December of the same year

Followed by this tea plate from Needham-Market boot sale a year later

These were a gift  for Christmas 2018

and in May 2019 I found this, again at Needham Market Boot sale

And guess what - another bit - or actually 2 bits were in the glass display cabinet of the charity shop on Saturday, these were the most expensive of the lot, and I don't know what came over me!

 

This had better be the end of my NOT a collection!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

St Simon and St Jude 28th October

 In medieval times the weather on the 28th was thought to predict the next 40 days and often marked the end of any mild spell with colder and windier weather moving in. 

On Saint Simon and Saint Jude 

winter approaches at a gentle trot

 This year we seem to have already had the windier weather and much rain but relatively mild so far.

Saints Simon and Jude were two of Jesus's first 12 apostles. Simon  is often called Simon the Zealot - probably to distinguish him from Simon Peter and Jude is thought to have been either a relative of Jesus, perhaps his brother or a brother of James.

There are two stories about Simon's end - either he was killed as a Martyr in Persia or he died peacefully in Edessa in Greece.

 

This is Saint Simon as he appears in my saints book

 

 

Jude is mentioned 4 times in the New Testament

1. "Jude of James", one of the twelve apostles Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13;
2. "Judas, (not Judas Iscariot)", apparently an apostle (John 14 :22);
3. the brother of Jesus Mathew 13:55 Mark 6:3
4. the writer of the Epistle of Jude, who identifies himself as "the brother of James" (Jude 1).

 

Saint Jude is often said to have been killed at the same time as Simon. No painting of St Jude in the Saints book.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

11th Lunar Month and the Ogham Alphabet

The hub has it's lights on  and I'm still connected to t'internet although the lap top still says I'm not! Eldest Daughter with Eldest Grandson are arriving later today to stay for a couple of nights so she'll have a look and tell me whats wrong. (Me being dumb I reckon)

It's sad that we can't meet up with all the family here one day but she will have to see her nieces and nephews one at a time. Ho Hum.

And before I forget again I must say hello to some more folk who've clicked the follower button over the last few days - hope you enjoy reading.

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 The 11th Full Moon of the year is coming up and the Ogham Alphabet letter for this month is G and the 'Tree' representing this letter for is Ivy.

Here's the page in Karen Cater's book "The Ogham Sketchbook"

 and a folklore tale

It's easy to find some Ivy to photograph around here.  Here it is climbing up the old Damson tree near the greenhouse.

Ivy used to be hung outside  Inns to show good wine was available inside but was unlucky if  brought into the house accidentally attached to a log. 

Ivy leaves soaked in vinegar were thought to cure corns and drinking from a cup made from Ivy wood was thought to cure whooping cough.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Saturday (almost a)Freebie

Thanks to everyone for comments on Saturday - my 12 days of Christmas treats plan seems to be a good idea - although they had better not all be edible treats! .

 Over the weekend I've had trouble connecting to the internet and seem to have to go all round the houses to get a connection. In fact my laptop says I'm not connected even now. BT asks me to log in every time but my log in details are not recognised. SO if I should disappear that will be why. I hope I don't vanish, as the internet is my lifeline as it is for so many other people who are on their own.

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 I don't usually go into town on a Saturday but that's how things worked out this week. 

And it was a useful trip because there was a stall in the market place with a man giving away (for £1) Saturday's East Anglian Daily Times, Friday's Evening Star, a bag of crisps, a bag of popcorn and a carton of water.

This looks rather like the bags they give away (for£1) at the Suffolk Show every year - but that was (or should have been) back in May and the crisps weren't that old!

It was handy because Saturdays EADT has the TV programmes for the week and double the puzzle pages and is usually £1.90.

Back Tomorrow - if I can find a way online again

Sue

The Weekend at the End Of Week 32 of Strange Times

Week 32! No wonder we are all so fed up of the whole thing, especially in this part of the world where rates are low and the chances of someone with Covid coughing all over me are unlikely - and yes I AM still wearing a mask and YES I know people have died.

 Anyway....................

Weeks later than expected the flower on the table this week is a gladioli from the cutting garden, the peach colour rather than the dark pink that appeared a month ago.

 

One load of junk went to the recycling centre (AKA the Tip) on Tuesday. I took the parcel shelf out of the car to make room for it all in the boot and everything fitted except the old frame of a baby bouncy chair thing (no longer any good), which I put on the car back seat...........guess what I came all the way home with!  There's a big sign at the tip saying "staff can no longer help the public unload" - that's funny because they never did, Covid has just given them the excuse to be even more grumpy!

The workshop and the garage are gradually getting emptied of all the things no longer needed. I've got a couple of bread crates full of old tools and boxes of nails etc which hopefully might sell at the Auction place.

After ignoring the emails from Electricity company Eon telling me to register for online bills as they don't want to send me paper ones anymore, they wrote me a letter as well. So I rang and said I don't want on-line billing - and guess what..........  all the words about "you must register for online" are rubbish, at least that's what I was told............... "if you don't register then you carry on getting paper bills" - NOWHERE on the letter does it say that. I wonder how many older-than-me people are really worried about what's happening and how they'll be able to pay their bills

The arrival of the Lakeland Christmas Catalogue - full of things  I don't want but with some very tasty foody treats has been a nudge to think about a strategy for getting through the winter, and especially Christmas alone for the 3rd time and even more alone due to Covid.

 Last year I went to Col's Sister and her Husband's for Christmas day. That won't happen this year as they are still seriously shielding and will have their children and partners there anyway which will be the maximum allowed. The year before all my children and families plus DiL's Dad and Sister came here and that was just too many for me to cope with and certainly too many for rules and regulations this year.

 In 2018 and 2019 I was also out some of the other days around Christmas. But this year could be completely different.

I'm not really terribly worried but do need some ideas just in case.............. 'Be Prepared' being my middle name!   Perhaps this is a year to really celebrate the 12 days of Christmas - maybe a food treat or a book or something to enjoy for each of days when everything is closed/different until things go back to the new normal in the New Year. Maybe I'll do myself a hamper.

Not a lot else to write about this week because you've already seen the bike ride and the library books. 

Have a good weekend

Back Monday

Sue

Edited in a PS . Switched on the lap top  this Saturday morning to find the messages about our friend Pat Weaver of Grass who had had a fall yesterday and is now in hospital. I'm adding my good wishes to all the others for a speedy recovery .

The October Library Book Photo

 These are the books I'd reserved but not very many to pick up this month, I've got loads on order but there are long waiting lists for some, others are still on order from the booksellers and one or two are sitting on the reserve shelves in various libraries around Suffolk but saying "Hold Expired" which means they ought to be put back into circulation. It may be they are in libraries that haven't re-opened? I might try ringing them to find out.

 

 From the top.............. "The Easter Sepulcher" by Mel Starr is historical crime and the 13th Chronicle of Hugh De Singleton. 

"My American" is there because there are  several Stella Gibbons being reprinted by Dean Street Press/Furrowed Middlebrow in January. This isn't one of them but has been mentioned as a good read and as it's set in WWII I thought I'd have a look. 

"Fifty Miles With My Dad" has a sub title "along the Suffolk coast" which is why I've borrowed it.

 Ann Granger has written many, many crime fiction books and I've read most, "A Matter of Murder" is the most recent. 

Somebody must have mentioned "The Tenderness of Wolves" by Stef Penney as she's not an author I know.

 I loved "The Salt Path" by Raynor Winn so really looking forward to reading her follow up"The Wild Silence".

On the right is "Under a Wartime Sky" by Liz Trenow. This looks like the sort of book that I don't normally read but must have decided to make a exception as this is set in WWII at Bawdsey in Suffolk where Radar was developed in secret.

Not sure these will last me all month - depends on how I get on with the unknown.

 

 

And what about the books I brought home last month? 

5 were read and enjoyed and added to the Books Read 2020 page

The rest went back to the library unread.

Now books on order have been collected there is availability to order some more ( There is a maximum of 25 allowed on order per person at any one time) .So I had a look on the library website at the book by Richard Osman which is getting a lot of publicity "The Thursday Murder Club".  How many people in Suffolk do you think are waiting to borrow a copy? 100? 200?.......... No,  more than that ............many, many more .............525..............525!!!

 A good thing there are 130 copies either already in stock or on order. I didn't bother to add myself to the list for the time being!

 

Back Tomorrow for the Saturday round up

Sue

A Little Bit Further From Home

 My Small Suffolk World (which will be the title of my biography if ever I write one) has been even smaller since March - like most other people.............. Shopping in Stowmarket or Diss, swimming, visiting family and one trip to Ipswich and that's it.

In the Ogham Tree Alphabet book the "tree" listed for the 12th Lunar Month isn't a tree or a bush or anything that I could find growing anywhere in November - it needed an adventure to track it down.

So I adventured to somewhere I knew I could find this mysterious thing. It wasn't a very long journey - only 25 or so miles but it took me to somewhere with all sorts of pretty things and included something that felt almost normal.

 Coffee and cheese scone - almost normal except for the mask! I love it when you get enough butter to spread it thick!

The pretty things I found looked like this.........Advent calendar Christmas cards bet you can guess who those will be given to and a magic snow-globe card which intrigued me. I could have spent a small fortune here but didn't!

Plus the thing I went there specifically for,  which will be revealed at a later date................

Back Tomorrow

Sue

(This trip out was last week and not yesterday when the weather was just awful all day - I went nowhere)

Container Mystery

 On an old WWII airfield runway about 2 miles from home as the crow flies is a site with permission to store some lorries/trailers.

But people within sight of the area have seen containers arriving day and night for the last 2 months, more and more and more until they are stored 5 high and quarter of a mile long. I can't see this from my house although on some nights when I've opened my bedroom window I can hear the hum of the crane and trucks unloading.

Driving down the A140 from a distance and through trees it looks like some sort of castle has been built with huge walls around a triangular inner court.  From nothing to this in 2 months!

You can imagine all the complaints and  rumours on the village Facebook page!

Are they full or are they empty? Is it Covid or Brexit related? and do they have council permission? or is this some sort of government secret store?...............of what? ...............and it's best to avoid the very narrow access road in case you meet a huge truck with yet another container arriving.

All VERY mysterious.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Cycle Tour

Yesterday morning  was a good time for a bike ride as it wasn't windy or wet or cold so with camera in the bike basket out I went to do the 6 mile loop around all the village.

Every journey on foot, bike or car starts with going down the lane to the road!

 

A mile from home - flat brown fields as far as the eye can see

 

Very small colourful crab apples -

 

Each bit of the village has it's own postbox, I'd already passed two before getting to this one. Years ago every part of the village also had it's own pub, now there are none. (One day I'll bike round and take photos of all the old pubs).

 

This little dead-end road leads to the Railway Museum - the proper way to get there unless you walk across the fields like I did the other day.

The village War Memorial, with last year's wreaths

 

 

Another reminder of the old Mid Suffolk Light Railway, this area was once sidings.

Now there are carriages that have been made into holiday lets

 

The gate is new and I don't think the sign and lamp are original to this railway either.

 

Someone had pumpkins out for sale

 

Here's the main part of the village - once a council house estate. I expect most are now privately owned.

Once again here's the disused telephone box that I showed on the blog at the beginning of lockdown, when I first got back on my bike. Lovely stained glass. Inside is a map of the cycle route around the village.

A HUGE yew tree on  the  edge of the cemetery

 

The "new" cemetery - up the road from the church

 

The trees by the church almost hide it from the road

The very small Dove Brook running along the edge of the churchyard

 

This used to be a post office and shop. Run by the oldest postmistress in the country until she had to give up sometime in the 80's or 90's It was famous and featured in a book of English Cottage Interiors.

Sadly there is no post office or shop in the village now

 

And the post-box still in use in the wall of the house. Is the step so that children can reach?

Autumn colour

 

Pushing my bike up the hill on the way home

 

This Holly tree is still covered in berries, more than I've ever seen in any year since we moved here

 

I'd hoped to see a sugar-beet harvester to photograph but they weren't working anywhere around although there's still plenty of fields to be harvested. Here's one big heap waiting for  trucks to collect it for the sugar-beet factory in Bury St Edmunds or Cantley in Norfolk

 

The little green sticker points the way for the loop I've just rode around and the brown signs are for a longer cycle route around Mid and North Suffolk

 

Nearly home - that's my house in the middle distance

 

 A very picture heavy post! Hope you enjoyed a little look at the bit of Suffolk where I live.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

 

A Good Weekend

 The Saturday swimming session was good, only 2 people in the slow half. Somehow going every 5 days rather than once a week has really helped up the fitness levels - or that might just be wishful thinking! I undid any good by stopping at the Chinese takeaway in Eye on my way home for a treat.😋  First time since March. 

Saturday night and I settled down to watch the return of the glittery, sparkly and happy Strictly Come Dancing. It was interesting to see how they had worked out a way to bring it back and thank goodness all the pro-dancers were willing to isolate themselves from family for a few weeks to pre-record all the group dances. I never thought I'd be so excited to see a bit of happy TV!

Then on Sunday I went mad and visited TWO car boot sales. It was the last day for both which is probably a good thing as both sites were muddy. I nearly didn't stop at the small local one as the car park looked like somewhere my Fiesta would get well stuck in the mud! but at the last moment found a parking space right by the road out.

At the first boot sale I found this fairly heavy brand new casserole/frypan with lid for £8. It's by Crofton which is the name Aldi sell their cookware under. Not  huge heavyweight cast iron like Le Creuset

- had one of those once - a long time ago - it was too heavy to lift - but this lighter one should last a while. Also got given the free Slimming World Magazine with FREE chocolate cereal bar - promoting a local Slimming World group. Free is good!

At the 2nd boot sale (it was getting a bit late by boot-sale standards) my spend was 20p for the two Christmas books which will be added to the heap I have in the cupboard for youngest Granddaughter and £1.50 for a big bag of eating apples .

In a dry bit of Sunday afternoon I hooked the trailer onto the mower and shifted some of the heap of road-planings down the lane to fill in the worst of the holes that have appeared after the recent rain, then  used some more in my gateway. There's still quite a good amount left - hopefully enough for more hole filling as the winter goes on.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

Surviving Week 31 of Strange Times

THIS WEEK...................

 On the whole it's been a grey dismal week since last Saturday, with some rain everyday. I wrote then that it had turned colder and this is what was on the ground when I got back from my trip across to the coast to take card and pressie to Eldest Granddaughter............Hail! covering the path and looking like snow. 

All the way home I'd driven through pouring rain and floods but the hail was a surprise........... proving it's colder here on the 'high' ground in Mid Suffolk!

THIS WEEK............. the new header photo  a tractor is ploughing the field beside the house and meadow, this now means the footpath across the field down to the railway has been ploughed and will be a sticky heavy clay mess, even when(or if) the farmer has re-instated it with his quad bike -  unless we get frost. Good thing I walked to the railway last week.

  THIS WEEK.............I'm not at all sure about swimming at the 12 Noon session on a Monday. There is a Rather Large Man who swims very slowly and he ought to stop at the end to let faster people (ie ME!) go past AND he tends to swim down the middle so there's no chance of getting by. Monday last week was the second time he's been there at 12 at the same time as I have and just to add insult  2 other people were also held up by him AND the lifeguard didn't ask him to wait at the end of the pool to let other people by until just before I was about to get out of the pool.

THIS WEEK...........After the PM's update on Monday we in Suffolk are in a Medium Risk area - nowhere is Low Risk - not even Devon and Cornwall where infection rates were actually falling. I'm still carrying on with the few things left in my life that I'm allowed to do and hoping that we don't get a full lock down before half term week when Eldest Daughter and Eldest Grandson should be coming to stay for a couple of nights - but it's not looking hopeful.

THIS WEEK.................. I've made a decision NOT to buy The Almanac Seasonal guide for next year

             Or The Country Wisdom and Folklore diary     

Much as I like and have enjoyed both for a few years, a year without will save me £20. The Diary was really good when it had spiral metal coil binding - they changed to normal book binding this year for environmental reasons - but then of course the diary won't lay flat or stay open on the right page. My 2021 diary is a £2 affair from The Works - with No Moon timetable so would be no good for my blog friend Rachel-in-Norfolk! So in theory I now have £18 to spend on books if I'm ever short of reading!

THIS WEEK.........At last a communication from my Dentist - telling me they are closing the local bit where I go - 4 miles- to concentrate everything on their Ipswich hub. I don't really want to travel that far to get teeth sorted but they have £120 of my money that I had to pay in March  as a deposit for having a tooth fixed. Since then more of the tooth has broken anyway so it might have to come out. I shall try and get my money back first I think. There's no hope of having anything done on the NHS - it's impossible to find a dentist that hasn't gone private nowadays.

Highlight of next week?

I've booked a slot at the recycling centre (AKA The Tip). Bit puzzled by this instruction........

 

                                 You must stay in your vehicle until you have parked

This week I'm grateful for

• Finding snooker (The English Open on Quest) on TV for wet afternoons this week
  
• Strictly Come Dancing is back on TV tonight - it may be different due to Covid but it will still be sparkly and happy. 

 

Hope you all have a good weekend, I shall return with more pearls of wisdom(?) on Monday

Sue

Side Effects and Contra-indications

 Had my free flu-jab this week and as it was my first time the nurse gave me the leaflet of possible problems.

 

 When I asked around about Flu-jab reactions my BiL (who is a patient at the same doctors group) said that once - only a couple of years ago -  they used to give the jab and ask people to wait in the waiting room for 10 minutes to make sure there was no serious reaction. This year with Covid and the reluctance to even allow people into the Health Centre at all, it was a case of walk in, stand where told - in the corridor OUTSIDE the nurses room, get jabbed and walk straight out of the back door - so as not to meet people queueing outside.

Do you read the leaflets of contraindications that are always in with medications? I'm guessing most people don't, especially if it's something that you've taken before. I've read the leaflet above and so far haven't noticed anything listed or not listed............Thank Goodness.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Needing to Re-Read

Many Thanks to every one for comments yesterday. To start with when I tried to reply blogger was playing silly B*****s and all I kept getting was the error 503 note, but it worked OK later. It took me 5 go's to change the header photo too (Hope it was Blogger and  not my laptop or the fibre connection playing up).

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One of the books ordered from the library and brought home in September was a new one by Anne Perry. She is an incredibly prolific author and since 1979  has written several long series of historical crime. 

The book just borrowed is the second in a series set -  to start with -  in 1933 The main character is Elena Standish,  a young photographer who in Book 2 has just begun working for MI6.

I started reading 'A Question of Betrayal' but it kept mentioning things that had happened in book 1 and for the life of me I couldn't remember a thing about the earlier book. According to my Books Read 2019 page I'd read it in May last year..........quite a lot has happened since then!

Looking on the library website I found there was a copy of the earlier novel 'Death in Focus' available in the library at Leiston  - which by happy chance was where I was going last Saturday to deliver the birthday card and present to Eldest Granddaughter.

Now I've re-read book 1 and finished reading Book 2 and made sense of the two stories. Also made a note of the publication date of Book 3 - September next year. Hopefully when I start that one I won't need to go back and re-read both the first two all over again!

This is what Fantastic Fiction says about the books...............

DEATH IN FOCUS .......It is 1933 and Europe is a place of increasing fear and violence. Young British photographer Elena Standish is on assignment in Amalfi when she meets Ian Newton, a charming Englishman with whom she falls in love. But what does she really know about him?

Accompanying him on a train across Italy to Paris, she finds him critically stabbed and dying. He tells her he is a member of Britain's Secret Service, on his way to Berlin to warn MI6 so that they can foil a plot to assassinate one of Hitler's vilest henchmen and blame Britain for it, thus causing a devastating diplomatic crisis. Elena promises to deliver the message. But she is too late, and finds herself fleeing for her life.

Meanwhile Lucas Standish, secret head of MI6 during the war, learns that his beloved granddaughter is being hunted in Berlin for murder. With Elena on the run, and at least one traitor in the British Embassy, it is impossible to know who to trust..

A QUESTION OF BETRAYAL.....On her first mission for MI6, the daring young photographer at the heart of this thrilling new mystery series by bestselling author Anne Perry travels to Mussolini’s Italy to rescue the lover who betrayed her.

Britain’s secret intelligence service, MI6, has lost contact with its informant in northern Italy, just as important information about the future plans of Austria and Nazi Germany is coming to light. And young Elena Standish, to her surprise, is the only person who can recognize MI6’s man—because he is her former lover. Aiden Strother betrayed Elana six years ago, throwing shame on her entire family. Now, with so much to prove, Elena heads to Trieste to track down Aiden and find out what happened to his handler, who has mysteriously cut off contact with Britain.

As Elena gets word of a secret group working to put Austria in the hands of Germany, her older sister, Margot, is in Berlin to watch a childhood friend get married—to a member of the Gestapo. Margot and Elena’s grandfather, the former head of MI6, is none too happy about the sisters’ travels at this tumultuous time, especially when a violent event at home reminds him that even Britain is growing dangerous. As his own investigation collides with his granddaughter's, what’s at stake on the continent becomes increasingly frightening—and personal.

 Both are  excellent  - but best read in the right order. 

 All library books have now been read and its a week before the Mobile is round again so back to my own shelves.

Back Tomorrow

Sue